Trouble with Tents
by 15Acesplz
Summary: Kevin and Arnold are Boy Scouts, on a camping trip that doesn't quite go as planned. Some sort of Boy Scout/middle school AU I can't get out of my head


"Arnold? Arnold!"

Arnold turned his head. "Huh?"

"You need to focus, Arnold." Kevin admonished. "Hand me pole C."

"Pole C?" Arnold sounded confused. "Which one is that?"

Kevin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "The one with the C on it."

"I can't find – oh, there it is."

"Thank you." Kevin did the next step to construct the tent. He was rather dismayed that he'd been partnered with Arnold for the Boy Scout camping trip. Arnold was notoriously inattentive, unskilled, and completely uninterested in the outdoors and survival. Kevin was one of the best Scouts in their grade. He deserved a better partner. "Okay, hand me that mallet." Kevin instructed without looking up.

It was only a few seconds later that Arnold started screaming bloody murder.

Kevin spun around to see Arnold drop to the ground, clutching his foot. He let go of the rope he was holding and the tent collapsed. "What? What happened?"

"My foot!" Arnold shrieked.

"What happened, Arnold?" Kevin demanded, perhaps a bit more forcefully than was necessary.

Arnold's words were choked, each phrase punctuated with a whine of pain. "I-I… The mallet… it slipped out of my hand… m-my foot…"

The mallet in question was lying on the ground a few inches from Arnold. Despite Arnold's garbled account, Kevin was able to put two and two together. "_You dropped the mallet on your foot?_" He couldn't believe that anyone, even Arnold, could succeed in being so hopelessly clumsy.

"It HURTS, Kevin!" Arnold's voice grew in volume and pitch.

"Alright, alright! I'll go get the troop leader."

"W-what? Don't leave me here!" He begged.

Kevin looked at the panicky boy and sighed in irritation. He resented that's he'd gotten stuck with Arnold. He hardly did any work, and even when he tried to help, something like this happened. "How will I ever get there with you dragging me down?" He snapped, meaning it in a number of respects.

Arnold flinched at his tone. "I-I can…" And suddenly he was attempting to stand. He almost did, his legs wobbling, but the second he put weight on the injured foot he crumpled to the ground again. "Ow…"

Kevin instantly felt guilty. It wasn't Arnold's fault that he was a terrible Boy Scout. Besides, as a good Boy Scout and a Mormon, it was Kevin's duty to be kind to others. "Let me help." He pulled the other boy up, letting him lean on him.

The walk was slow going. Neither of the twelve year olds said anything, the only sounds and occasional sniffled or whimper from Arnold, who was now crying steadily.

They finally reached their destination, where Kevin explained the situation to the troop leader and helped Arnold sit down while they waited for someone to come with a first aid kit.

There was an awkward pause before Kevin asked, "So how you doing?"

"It hurts." Arnold said in a quavering voice.

"I know… Why don't you try thinking of something else?" Kevin suggested.

"Like what?"

"Um… what's a movie you like?"

"Lord of the Rings."

"Hm, okay. Who's your favorite character?"

"Samwise."

Kevin continued to coax conversation out of Arnold. His responses were short at first, but eventually he launched himself into a lengthy and enthusiastic description of the Lord of the Rings universe. It didn't interest Kevin in the slightest, but at least Arnold had forgotten about the pain in his foot. He seemed trepidatious when an older Scout appeared to examine the injury, but Kevin got him to hold still while he told him about Star Wars.

The foot was declared badly bruised and Arnold was given an ice pack. He was much more cheerful on the way back to their unfinished tent, although he adamantly refused to touch the mallet.

"You should come over to my house sometime," He proposed when they had finally pitched the tent and settled down for the night. "We can have a movie marathon."

"Sure, Arnold."

"Goodnight, best friend." Came the drowsy reply.

Kevin blinked in surprise. 'Best friend'? Where had that come from? Thinking it over, it occurred to him that when Arnold said 'best friend', he might have meant 'only friend'. Kevin didn't really mind. Arnold was nice enough, even if he could be feckless and inept. Kevin smiled. "Goodnight, pal."

**Yes, yes, I know the title sucks. But I would totally love it if you reviewed!**


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